Bad things can happen quickly, but good things aren’t built in a day, and as they unfold they will be out of sync with the news cycle. The peace researcher John Galtung pointed out that, if a newspaper came out once every 50 years, it would not report half a century of celebrity gossip and political scandals. It would report momentous global changs such as the increase in life expectancy.
—Pinker (2018)
What is so exciting is that in a digitalized world we have at our disposal the tools with which to create a democratic movement for change. Organizations and individuals can communicate with other people in an instant and the ideas expressed in this book can be used for debate in blogs and case studies of organizations around the world and can add to those ideas that have already been explored and examined by others. The digital age has empowered the individual to be the catalyst for a global social movement and drive forward ideas that make real change happen. During the Industrial Revolution the elite had access to the means of communication and information; they could control the ebb and flow of social exchange for their own means. Today, it is the people who have at their fingertips the tools to manage the pace of change and be effective in driving an agenda based on Doing Good.
Those who support Capitalism are trying to engage those disgruntled with the rising levels of inequality by creating division and blaming it on immigrants, individual failure, or the unnamed elites, of which they are not a part. The claim is that Capitalism will adapt to survive as it has again and again. But, this time things are different. The inequality is bigger and the solution involves greater levels of inequality to be borne by those who are least able to survive. Opioid epidemics, rising levels of poverty, and increasing levels of those who are educated professionals just about managing mean that it may be that the solution lies not in the willingness of society to bear the inequality but rather in our inability to bear it any longer. We can pull on the history of Kings and Queens, Nations, Cities, Institutions, Languages, Science, Knowledge, and Technology available to us or look at the truly astounding accomplishment of human energy, skills, capacity, knowledge, and values. There is no limit to our ability to improve society and our own lives. Both external and internal accomplishment is recorded and available for us to examine and marvel at how amazing the human race is, and if you are reading this then you too have within you the same capacity to be able to accomplish something truly world changing. The time for change is right, not just because of the economic situation we currently face, but because our society is ready for change; we want different things to that which capitalism offers us. For those of us that are no longer young and may have had our idealism knocked out of us, we can believe that we are too busy to be able to contribute to a social movement, just as those who live under dictatorship can believe that it is easier just to survive than fight. Whether it is apathy or just that we have given up, we can be heartened by the fact that our thoughts about the way the world is today are not unique. It is unfair, injustice abounds but there is no use waiting for a superhero to fly in and save the day. You are the hero everyone is waiting for. What is truly fantastic is that once humanity achieves something that was once thought impossible we continue to progress. In the months following Roger Bannister breaking the 1-minute mile, around seventeen people achieved the same feat. There is no limit to our ability to overcome the impossible.
At the center of this movement is the organization, that is, organizations with a social conscience, one that truly cares for people, society, and the planet. Organizations aren’t just a mainstay of the economy, they are a central part of our society and our culture. If organizations galvanize to adopt a Doing Good agenda then the forces of Doing Good will be marshaled at a societal level. With the support of our employers we will find ourselves in a situation where society pursues the best of what we are, we are liberated to do good things and act ethically and morally. We will begin to trust each other, the state, and the institutions and organizations that we interact with, because we believe that rather than everyone securing their slice of the pie they are Doing Good with vigor.
A community-based approach to business, focused on shared responsibility and delivering an agenda of Doing Good, will develop a broader sense of belonging, of being part of something bigger delivering huge benefits in regard to personal and societal well-being and happiness. Community ties will be healthier, better nourished, and individuals more able and willing to contribute to the social paradigm. Being part of something bigger will make everyone act bigger, helping us all to be better, as well as feel better. Organizations that follow an agenda of Doing Good reject the pursuit of profit as the deciding factor on their decision making. They begin to ask why do we exist and what is the purpose behind the organization’s activity, and the organization operates through a lens of asking itself what can we contribute to the wider society, leading to an adoption of Doing Good through Business with a Social Conscience.